Pregnant woman holding baby booties.RTimages/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Lindsay Lohan announced her pregnancy yesterday. So did Mila Kunis, declaring Ashton Kutcher is the dad. Sharon Osbourne also said a baby was on the way, at the age of 60. If you believed them, well, April Fools' on you. Ha ha.
Hollywire breathlessly announced the gags – at least by Kunis and Osbourne, calling them "epic," but really they were just lame and not very funny. (Except perhaps for Lohan's, which, despite feeling like a hoax even before she fessed up, was also more than a little disturbing.)
April Fools' Day came with some good gags this year – and we could be generous and say that these celebs are just taking knowing shots at our baby-bump obsessing cultural – but joking about being pregnant just feels like one lazy belly flop, so to speak. (Lohan couldn't even be bothered to make the noon deadline.) If that's the best you can do, why bother?
And it wasn't just celebrities: Fake sonograms were also trending in the general population. This site called "fake pregnancies" the bread and butter of April Fools', and wrote an Android app that creates a fake ultrasound when you wave your phone over someone's belly. (As the site also points out, if you fall for this you deserve to be pranked.)
This couple thought it would be just hilarious on April 1 last year to have their family joyfully welcome their news before declaring it a hoax – they then posted a video to YouTube, and you can see how well that went over. At least this mom produced an actual baby, when faking her water breaking became real water breaking.
Still, given how emotional a pregnancy can be – for good and bad – it seems to fall short of the fun of an April Fools' gag. Ultimately, faking a pregnancy is toying with a family member on a personal subject that good sense should put off-limits. It's enough to make you miss the good old-fashioned whoopee cushion.
Erin Anderssen